KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – With just over six minutes left in the first quarter the Kirksville Lady Tigers led Boonville 7-2. McKenzie Russell would score five points in less than 30 seconds that put KHS up 12-2 and the Lady Tigers cruised from there winning 67-45.

Russell forced a Boonville timeout after she hit a three and then stole the ensuing inbounds pass and put it right back up for an easy layup.

“We forced a lot of turnovers when we got up and pressured them and that was big for us tonight,” said Russell.

The Tigers won the game by forcing Lady Pirate turnovers and then getting out in transition.

“Anytime someone starts a freshman point guard it’s going to be pretty tough when you have five seniors on the floor together. So we talked about she was going to get rattled easy. The biggest thing for us is we need to work on moving our feet the whole time, we do really good until we get the lead,” said Kirksville head coach Sara Williams.

The Lady Tigers looked to Ashton Vorkink on defense against Boonville, like they do most nights.

“We came out strong because we hustled and were able to force a lot of turnovers that allowed us to get out on the fast break,” said Vorkink.

Kirksville used the turnovers and fast break points to steadily build their lead. KHS led by nine after one, 18 at half, and by 22 going to the fourth. They did this all while holding Boonville to eight points in the second quarter and 11 in the third, after only giving up 10 in the opening quarter.

“We planned on playing hard defense. Our plan was to deny the ball and sag off the other players so that we could go for the steals, and we definitely did that tonight,” said Vorkink.

A big key lately for Kirksville is that they have developed a balanced scoring attack not allowing teams to focus in on Russell or down low on Nichole Cook. That was true again Friday night as they had three players in double-digits led by Russell and her 18. Cook and Vorkink each scored 15, and while running the offense and dishing out assists Kendyl Blanke added seven.

The Lady Tigers are in the middle of an odd stretch of games having not played since Jan. 11 at Highland.

“It was a good game for us coming off a long break so it was good to get everyone some minutes,” said Williams.

Now Kirksville won’t play again until Jan. 28 when they travel to Boonville.

“I think we will work on pretty much everything, but focus in on guarding the post and free throws,” said Vorkink.